Beretta

After reading the Jonathan Lowy's recent commentary, I was stunned to learn of the extent to which the Italian government invests in protecting its citizens and children from the merchants of death at work in the U.S., where profits for gun manufacturers like Beretta soar to grotesque heights ( "Beretta's economic blackmail," Feb. 13). Equally disturbing is the absence of conscience and ethics demonstrated by politicians whose priorities are focused on collecting "donations" from those working to dismantle gun safety legislation in the U.S. It is clear that U.S. gun violence is something Mr. Beretta has no interest in subjecting himself to, given his choice to endure the daily "disrespect" of Italian gun laws that ensure his own safety.

After reading the Jonathan Lowy's recent commentary, I was stunned to learn of the extent to which the Italian government invests in protecting its citizens and children from the merchants of death at work in the U.S., where profits for gun manufacturers like Beretta soar to grotesque heights ( "Beretta's economic blackmail," Feb. 13). Equally disturbing is the absence of conscience and ethics demonstrated by politicians whose priorities are focused on collecting "donations" from those working to dismantle gun safety legislation in the U.S. It is clear that U.S. gun violence is something Mr. Beretta has no interest in subjecting himself to, given his choice to endure the daily "disrespect" of Italian gun laws that ensure his own safety.

With Beretta's plans to expand in Tennessee rather than Maryland, I guess we lost another business to a state with lower taxes, a better business environment and better, safer, more reasonable living conditions for its employees than Maryland ( "Beretta chooses Tennessee for new site," Jan. 29). The legislature better take note, because our governor won't. And Comptroller Peter Franchot had better wake up and realize that Maryland is losing more high-income taxpayers who can afford to leave this place.

I enjoyed reading your editorial about the Beretta company building a new plant in Tennessee ( "Weighing the loss of Beretta jobs," Jan. 30). The problem is that even the cities that attempted to ban handguns entirely were among the most violent in the nation, so it is foolish to think that gun control laws have any effect on crime. Moreover, the violence is being committed by residents, so you one can't claim that legal gun owners are coming in and taking advantage. Clearly, something else must be causing the problem.

ACCOKEEK -- Robert Bonaventure took a .22-caliber, nickel-plated pistol with an imitation ivory hand grip from the small blue box on top of his desk and studied it."We couldn't meet the demand," he finally said, cupping the gun in his hand. "Basically, we were sold out. We increased production by 10 percent, which was the maximum we could boost it, and we sold everything we could make."In an industry taking billion-dollar hits from Pentagon cuts, Beretta USA Corp. stands out as an amazing success story.

ACCOKEEK -- The 16-shot, semiautomatic 9 mm handgun lying on Robert Bonaventure's desk has a lot to do with his sense of security.Mr. Bonaventure is head of Beretta U.S.A. Corp., and the gun he picked up and waved about is almost identical to those the company makes for the U.S. military.Beretta has used its military contract to establish such a strong position in the domestic firearms market that even when its Army order is filled next spring, the company expects no slowdown in production.

Beretta USA Corp. said yesterday that it is boosting production of the military side of its Accokeek plant to accommodate a $6.5 million contract it won to supply 16,600 handguns to the U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard.Jeff Reh, contract manager for Beretta, said the Army Reserve-National Guard order will result in a near doubling of the plant's military production."We are in a ramp-up phase," Reh said. "We will deliver 3,500 pistols to the Navy this month and 6,000 next month."The Navy is the purchasing agent for the Army Reserve and National Guard contract.

Beretta USA Corp. regained its status as a defense contractor when the Accokeek company received an $18.5 million order for 45,000 of its 9 mm handguns for the Navy.The new order is the second largest in the southern Prince Georges County company's history. It will activate Beretta's military assembly operation for the first time in more than a year.In August 1994, the company shipped the last of 392,000 handguns, valued at $110 million, to the Army, the purchasing agent for all branches of the military.

In an age of fly-by-night infomercial businesses and dying dot-coms, the Beretta family is a throwback - to the 16th century. Fifteen generations, beginning with Bartolomeo Beretta, have made firearms in a narrow, pine-covered valley in the Alps foothills. The company's first invoice, for 185 gun barrels, was signed on Oct. 3, 1526. By the time the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth rock, Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta was already in its second 100 years. Perhaps more than any gun maker, the Beretta name has a mystique that Madison Avenue and even liberal Hollywood have embraced.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening is proposing to spend $3 million over three years on gun safety research in an attempt to win support for his child-proof guns legislation. The funding proposal is likely to benefit Maryland's only handgun manufacturer, Beretta USA Corp., which some legislators worry would be threatened by Glendening's "Smart-Guns" bill. That legislation would require all handguns sold in the state to be equipped with built-in mechanical trigger locks and, eventually, a high-tech system to prevent anyone other than the owner from using them.

With Beretta's plans to expand in Tennessee rather than Maryland, I guess we lost another business to a state with lower taxes, a better business environment and better, safer, more reasonable living conditions for its employees than Maryland ( "Beretta chooses Tennessee for new site," Jan. 29). The legislature better take note, because our governor won't. And Comptroller Peter Franchot had better wake up and realize that Maryland is losing more high-income taxpayers who can afford to leave this place.

Opponents of Maryland's gun laws are falling all over themselves to offer I-told-you-sos after the gun manufacturer Beretta announced it would be building a new plant in Tennessee rather than Maryland. Beretta had warned the state that this would happen before the law was enacted last year, and officials there are making the connection between their decision and gun control, saying they only looked for states with "a consistent history of support for and likelihood of future support for Second Amendment rights.

Gun manufacturer Beretta USA announced Wednesday it would build its newest plant not in Maryland, but in Tennessee. Last year, the centuries-old Italian gun-maker threatened to abandon plans to expand its U.S. headquarters in Prince George's County when Maryland weighed some of the toughest gun laws in the country. At least eight states began trying to woo Maryland gun manufacturers last year. When state lawmakers approved a ban on the sale of assault-style rifles - some of which Beretta had been developing at its Accokeek plant - the company said it would look elsewhere for its next $45-million, 300-job plant.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will visit gun manufacturer Beretta USA Wednesday during his trip to entice Maryland companies to move to the Lone Star State. Later in the day, Perry will square off on television with the governor whose state he came to criticize. A Perry aide called the Beretta visit a "long-standing appointment" that coincides with the Republican governor's visit and $500,000 advertising campaign that knocks Maryland's business climate and takes a swipe at the taxes raised during the tenure of Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat.

Maryland's largest gun manufacturer has decided not to leave the state just yet. Beretta USA threatened to abandon its home on the Potomac if Maryland passed a strict new gun-control law, but after the law was signed the company announced that its operations would remain in Prince George's County for now. However, Beretta added, it would look elsewhere for future expansions. Beretta and another Maryland gun maker have taken a wait-and-see approach to leaving the state, balancing the risk of a customer backlash against the cost and difficulty of a possible move, while keeping up with unprecedented demand for guns of all kinds.

Despite Beretta's threats that the company would leave Maryland if new gun laws were passed and signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley, Beretta USA has no current plans to abandon its headquarters in Prince George's County. In a statement sent to The Baltimore Sun Monday, Beretta USA board member and general counsel Jeffrey K. Reh said the company would not let the new law interfere with completing its contract to supply the U.S. Army with pistols....

I am a hardworking, tax-paying, upstanding resident of Cecil County with grave concerns about the direction of our great state. The anti-gun legislation currently making its way through our state government is truly scary ("Md. gun laws set sights on the long term," April 2). Not only is it an extreme overreach of state authority and a violation of our constitutional rights as American citizens, it flies in the face of what was intended by the founders of our great nation. The tragedy of all this is the fact that no life will be saved by this legislation (statistics will and have proven this)

As Maryland contemplates passing one of the nation's strictest gun laws, at least seven other states have courted its gun manufacturers, offering tax incentives and open arms elsewhere. The governor of Texas, West Virginia's House speaker and an Illinois congressman have written to Beretta USA officials, inviting a move and promising a better business climate if the 400-year-old Italian company chooses to abandon its U.S. headquarters on the Potomac. Another arms manufacturer and defense contractor on the Eastern Shore, LWRC International, received offers, some including tax incentives, from elected or government officials in Nebraska, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nevada, Texas and West Virginia, a company executive said.